These are the safest hospitals in NC, report says. See if yours made the list
How safe are North Carolina hospitals?
A national health care watchdog group determined the state had dropped outside the top 10 in its latest hospital rankings.
The Leapfrog Group released its spring 2024 Hospital Safety Grades on Thursday, May 1, scoring local hospitals with A through F letter grades. In its report, North Carolina hospitals were rated the 12th safest in the United States — the lowest ranking since 2022.
In total, 92 hospitals in North Carolina received safety grades in Leapfrog’s spring 2025 report.
Utah was ranked No. 1, with the highest percentage of hospitals that received A grades. Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut and South Carolina followed, respectively.
Here’s how Charlotte and Raleigh-area hospitals stacked up in the new rankings, how the grades are calculated, and how the data should be interpreted.
What makes a hospital safe?
The Hospital Safety Grade list assigns a letter grade to general hospitals in the U.S. based on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections that kill or harm patients.
About 30 measures are used to determine these safety grades. The Leapfrog Group also utilized these five patient experience measures that have a direct relationship with safety outcomes to come up with grades:
Nurse communication
Doctor communication
Staff responsiveness
Communication about medicines
Discharge communication
Grades are assigned using publicly available data, and measures’ scores are calculated using patient responses to a national and standardized survey following a hospital visit, Leapfrog said.
Here are North Carolina’s Leapfrog safety rankings in recent years:
No. 12 in spring 2025
Report highlights ‘Straight A’ NC hospitals
For the first time, Leapfrog recognized hospitals that received A grades for five or more grading rounds, designating them as “Straight A” hospitals.
There are 18 “Straight A” hospitals in North Carolina, including five in the Charlotte and Raleigh regions:
- Atrium Health Union (Monroe)
CaroMont Regional Medical Center (Gastonia)
Duke Raleigh Hospital (Raleigh)
Duke Regional Hospital (Durham)
Duke University Hospital (Durham)
Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center (Huntersville)
- Novant Health Mint Hill Medical Center (Charlotte)
Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center (Charlotte)
WakeMed Cary Hospital (Cary)
WakeMed Raleigh Campus (Raleigh)
How safe are Charlotte-area hospitals?
The following Charlotte-area hospitals received A grades in Leapfrog’s Spring 2025 Hospital Safety Grades report:
Atrium Health Union (Monroe)
CaroMont Regional Medical Center (Gastonia)
Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center (Huntersville)
Novant Health Mint Hill Medical Center (Charlotte)
Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center (Charlotte)
These Charlotte hospitals received B grades:
Atrium Health Pineville (Charlotte)
Atrium Health Cabarrus (Concord)
Atrium Health Mercy (Charlotte)
Atrium Health Union West (Matthews)
Carolinas Medical Center (Charlotte)
Novant Health Matthews Medical Center (Matthews)
Atrium Health University City was the only Charlotte-area hospital with a C grade.
.jpg "DrAustinBush_ValerieBelton (3).jpg")
How safe are Raleigh-area hospitals?
The following Triangle hospitals received A grades in Leapfrog’s Spring 2025 Hospital Safety Grades report:
Duke Raleigh Hospital (Raleigh)
Duke Regional Hospital (Durham)
Duke University Hospital (Durham)
Johnston Health (Clayton)
WakeMed Cary Hospital (Cary)
WakeMed North Hospital (Raleigh)
WakeMed Raleigh Campus (Raleigh)
UNC Hospitals (Chapel Hill)
The following Triangle hospitals received B grades:
Johnston Health (Smithfield)
Rex Hospital, Inc. (Raleigh)
REX Holly Springs Hospital (Holly Springs)
Central Carolina Hospital in Sanford was the only Raleigh-area hospital to receive a C grade.
How are hospital safety grades calculated?
Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Grades are assigned biannually — once in the spring and once in the fall. The Hospital Safety Grade program was established in 2012.
▪ Grades are assigned using letters, with A as the best possible grade and F as the worst.
▪ The overall grades are based on about 30 evidence-based measures of the basics of patient safety, including handwashing, entering prescriptions through a computer and the availability of highly trained nurses.
▪ The grades are assigned using data from various public sources, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
▪ Grades are generally assigned to nearly 3,000 hospitals. Any general, acute-care hospital in the U.S. for which there is enough publicly available data is included in the grading list.
▪ Individual scores that contribute to a hospital’s overall letter grade fall into five categories:
Infections, including how often patients at the hospital contract MRSA, urinary tract infections, blood infections and more.
Problems with surgery, including how often dangerous items are left in a patient’s body after surgery, how often surgical wounds split open and accidental cuts and tears.
Safety problems, including patient falls and dangerous bed sores.
Practices to prevent errors, including handwashing and safe medication administration.
Doctors, nurses and hospital staff, including having enough qualified nurses and performing patient bedside care.
How should you use Leapfrog’s hospital safety scores?
In a video explaining how to use the hospital safety grades, Leapfrog recommends using them to inform your decision when choosing a hospital or to learn more about hospitals in your area.
▪ Using Leapfrog’s search tool on the homepage at hospitalsafetygrade.org, you can search for hospitals by hospital name, city and state, just state, or by ZIP code.
▪ When you get to your results page, Leapfrog recommends looking for hospitals with the highest grade.
If there is more than one hospital with a good grade, consider other things that are important to you when seeking care, such as the hospital’s location and proximity to you.
If a hospital doesn’t have a good grade, Leapfrog recommends searching for another location or talking with your doctor about what you can do to stay safe in the hospital.
The overall letter grade for a hospital gives you the “big picture,” Leapfrog says. However, you can also see the individual scores that make up the hospital’s grade.
▪ If there are certain issues or risks you’re concerned about, make sure to check the hospital’s score on that measure. Leapfrog recommends always checking a hospital’s scores on handwashing, blood infections and patient falls.
▪ Each score the hospital receives is also listed with the best and worst score on that measure by any hospital and the average score for hospitals on that measure.
More information on how to use the Hospital Safety Grades can be found at hospitalsafetygrade.org/your-hospitals-safety-grade/how-to-use-the-grade.
How to stay safe during a hospital visit
Regardless of a hospital’s safety grade, Leapfrog recommends the following tips to stay safe if you need to receive care at a hospital:
▪ Bring someone with you when you arrive and when you’re discharged. If possible, also try to have someone visit every day of your stay.
The extra person can ensure that even when you’re groggy or tired, there’s someone there to be alert, ask questions, and advocate for your care. Hospitals might have patient advocates on staff who can also provide these resources.
▪ Be alert and say something. During your stay, you or your companion should take notes to keep track of what’s happening, including if hospital staff and your care team are washing their hands.
▪ Know your medications. Leapfrog recommends keeping track of which medications you’re taking during your stay and why you’re taking them.
Don’t be afraid to ask your care team for this information. You can also request that your care team cross-check your name with your medications before giving them to you to prevent possible mix-ups.
Kimberly Cataudella Tutuska’s reporting contributed to this story.
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 1:01 PM with the headline "These are the safest hospitals in NC, report says. See if yours made the list."
